There's just one month to go until Airbus auctions around 500 Airbus A380 parts to raise money for the Airbus Foundation and the AIRitage association. Most of the parts included in the auction will come from the second Airbus A380 delivered to Emirates, A6-EDB.

The Airbus A380 is an iconic aircraft loved by many passengers and aviation enthusiasts. When parts of aircraft already scrapped have gone on sale in the past, there has been tremendous interest, with sold-out signs quickly appearing. Airbus' upcoming auction is likely to be no exception to the pattern seen thus far.

500 parts on auction

Next month Airbus will hold a three-day action from Thursday, October 13th to Saturday, October 15th. The auction will take place in person in Toulouse and online at Interencheres.com. Most of the parts in the auction have been taken from an Emirates Airbus A380, which shows in the lots on offer.

All sorts of aircraft parts are included in the listing. While most parts come from A6-EDB, some come from elsewhere in the Airbus A380 program. Here's a selection of the more interesting items available in the auction,

  • Emirates first class suite Do Not Disturb signs,
  • Overhead bins,
  • Fuselage side panels,
  • A380 Cabin rescue axes,
  • Engine fan blades,
  • Cockpit rescue rope,
  • Toilet bowl and seat,
  • Cockpit staircase,
  • Economy and crew seats.
Emirates first class do not disturb sign
Do not disturb indicators from first class suites are among the items up for auction. Photo: Tom Boon - Simple Flying

About A6-EDB

A6-EDB was the 13th Airbus A380 to be built by Airbus, taking its first flight on April 2nd, 2008. Emirates took delivery of the jet on October 24th of that year, making it the second to join the Dubai-based carrier. According to ch-aviation.com data, the aircraft completed 46,917 hours of flight, equivalent to 5,35 years in the skies. During this time, the plane completed 5,699 flight cycles.

According to FlightRadar24.com, the aircraft's final passenger flight was EK865 from Muscat to Dubai International Airport on February 23rd, 2020. This is Emirates' shortest Airbus A380 route. The aircraft's last flight took place on October 27th, 2020. A seven-hour flight took the plane to Tarbes, a Tarmac Aerosave facility in the south of France. The aircraft had been scrapped by October 2021.

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Not the only Emirates A380 scrapped

Emirates was by far the largest Airbus A380 customer and took delivery of the last new giant of the skies late last year. Its newest aircraft are expected to remain in the skies through the mid-2030s. However, ch-aviation.com suggests that seven of the airline's giants have been withdrawn from service to date.

Only one more of these has been scrapped. A6-EDA, the 11th A380 to be built, was scrapped in Dubai late last year. Like the aircraft being auctioned by Airbus, this Airbus A380 also didn't go to waste. Emirates upcycled a significant part of the aircraft, giving it a new lease of life as everything from bag tags to clocks and more.

Will you bid on a part in the Airbus A380 auction? Let us know what you think and why in the comments below!

Sources: Airbus, Maître Labarbe, interencheres.com, ch-aviation.com, FlightRadar24.com